A.J. Preller’s latest quote adds a telling wrinkle to the Padres offseason

Padres fans aren’t confused anymore. If anything they’ve grown impatient.

It’s deserved. They’ve watched a steady drip of talent leave the organization, watched the farm system get stripped down to the studs, and watched the “next wave” turn into more of a hope-and-a-prayer than an actual safety net. They know the reality: this team is cash-strapped, operating in a tighter lane than it used to. But that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow when the rest of the NL is out here getting stronger while the Padres keep treating urgency like a suggestion.

That’s why A.J. Preller’s latest quote to the Associated Press lands the way it does.

Padres’ painful standstill looks intentional after A.J. Preller’s latest comments

“You get to this point [in the offseason] and obviously you get the opportunity to hopefully get some players that are motivated, that want to be here, and get some deals that we feel like line up for us from a price standpoint and what we get in the player,” Preller said. “Hopefully we’re going to look to add some guys here in the next couple of weeks that help us a lot.”

There’s a lot packed into that, and the most revealing part isn’t even the “next couple of weeks” tease. It’s the framing: motivated players, price standpoint, and value alignment. It’s proof that the Padres aren’t hunting at the top of the market. They’re fishing in the part of the pool where guys are still unsigned for a reason.

That’s not automatically a problem. Some of the best offseason adds are the ones made after the frenzy dies down, when teams stop bidding with their emotions and start negotiating with a calculator. But it is a problem when your fan base has already spent an entire offseason watching the Padres lose depth, flexibility, and the benefit of the doubt.

The Padres have been living off the credibility of the Manny-and-Tatis era for a while now. The brand still says “contender.” The roster still has headline talent. The bullpen can still shorten games. But the margin for error is gone. The farm system isn’t there to patch mistakes. The trade cache isn’t there to buy solutions. And the “we’ll figure it out later” approach hits different when later keeps arriving with the same unanswered questions.

Preller’s quote sounds like someone setting the table for bargain additions — useful pieces, maybe even meaningful ones — but also someone acknowledging the Padres are shopping with constraints, not swagger.

And Padres fans are reading it the only way they can: not as a promise, but as a reminder of the reality they’ve been living all offseason.

As we bolt towards Spring Training, the Padres need to stop losing the room. Because watching rivals level up while they wait for the “right price” isn’t just frustrating — it’s starting to feel like the plan.